On 17th September MEPs approved the appointment of Christine Lagarde 394 votes in support, 206 against and 49 abstentions, as President of the European Central Bank. They also approved the appointment of Yves Mersch as Vice-Chair of the ECB's Supervisory Board, 379 votes in support, 230 against and 69 abstentions.

On 18th September the European Parliament adopted a resolution reasserting its support to an agreement on the UK's exit from the Union and the need for this to include a backstop for the Irish border. MEPs said that "full responsibility for Brexit without a deal would lie with the UK and such a scenario would not cancel the obligations and commitments made by the country from the financial point of view, the protection of citizens' rights and the respect of the Good Friday Agreement.

On 18th September the European Parliament approved a top up of 100 million € for Erasmus+ and the research programme Horizon 2020, as part of the 2019 budget. MEPs also adopted the reimbursement to Member States of a surplus 1.8 billion € from the 2018 budget.

On 19th September the Parliament published the schedule of the hearings of the Commissioners designate that will take place from 30th September to 8th October. The Conference of Committee Chairs will assess the results of all of the hearings on 15th October so they can draw up a final assessment on 17th October. A vote presided over by Ursula von der Leyen is planned for 23rd October.

On 31st October Mario Draghi will leave office as President of the European Central Bank at the end of his term in office. He appeared before MEPs of the ECON Committee for the last time on 23rd September. The exchange focused on the way he had helped save the euro zone during the financial crisis and the results of his quantitative easing policy. He called for a review of the European budgetary rules and a euro zone budget.

Meeting on 20th September, the ministers responsible for Transport discussed the path to follow to reach carbon neutrality in air, land and maritime transport, in respect of the Paris Climate Agreement and to counter global warming. They also discussed financial tools for sustainable transport.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in a joint press release published on 23rd September by the French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deemed that it is "clear that Iran is responsible" for the attack against the oil facilities in Saudi Arabia on 14th September. They call for a de-escalation of tension in the region and are calling for Iran to continue to respect the nuclear agreement.

In an evaluation report published on 19th September, the Group of States against Corruption at the Council of Europe (GRECO), deemed that Switzerland had made "some progress" in terms of the implementation of its recommendations. It calls on the Confederation to continue its efforts to make the financing of its political parties transparent.

The new Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric, elected in June took office for a five year mandate on 18th September in replacement of Norwegian Thorbjorn Jagland. She is the second woman to head the institution, after Frenchwoman Catherine Lalumière.

As part of the centenary celebration of the signature of the convention between France and Poland 'on emigration and immigration', the Louvre-Lens Museum is running a major retrospective on 19th century Polish painting from 25th September to 20th January.

Until 2nd February Picasso, Chagall, Mondrian, Van Dongen and works by other artists will be showing at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in an exhibition offering a renewed view of their work. The exhibition relates the hostility encountered by these artists who migrated to Paris between 1900 and 1950.

On 28th September the European Parliament is organising Multilingualism Day in Brussels with fun activities involving the work of interpreters and translators who work at the institution. The House of European History is organising visits on the theme of the history of languages in Europe. The event is taking place two days after the annual European Day of Languages (26th September), which is an initiative of the Council of Europe.

The Peggy Guggenheim: the Last Dogaressa exhibition organised by the Guggenheim Museum of Venice is running until 27th January showing pieces of her collection which was made after her arrival in the city in 1948: master works, articles, photographs ...

A collection of precious objects dating from 900 to 300 BCE is on show until 12th January at the Caixa Forum of Madrid. Ivory, jewellery and glass, gold and metal ornaments as well as large scale reliefs from all regions in the ancient Middle East show us the importance of luxury in trade relations and the power enjoyed by ancient civilisations.